A preliminary investigations
judge in the Sicilian city of Ragusa on Monday ordered the
release of a migrant search-and-rescue ship run by Spanish NGO
Proactiva Open Arms, rejecting a request from local prosecutors
for it to stay under sequester.
The vessel has been berthed in the port of Pozzallo since
landing there on March 18 having saved 218 migrants in the
southern Mediterranean.
It was sequestered upon an order by Catania prosecutors in
relation to a probe into possible case of aiding illegal
migration.
The ship landed in Pozzallo after the NGO refused to hand
the asylum seekers it was carrying over to the Libyan
authorities.
A Catania judge extended the sequester on March 27 but
transferred the case to Ragusa, having rejected allegations of
criminal association.
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